Key West settles two more accident claims

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

On top of a recent $130,000 settlement paid to a Key West City worker for on the job injuries, the city has agreed to fork out another $284,000 to settle two additional cases in order to avoid potentially more costly lawsuits.

One of the claims involved a former city worker and the other a tourist who tripped over uneven bricks and fell onto a fence, impaling her cheek. The tourist, Barbara Turner, of Franklin, Ind., was on her way to the Southernmost Point when she tripped over a brick planter boarder in front of a South Street home owned by the artist Seward Johnson. According to a memo written by city Assistant Attorney Ron Ramsingh, Johnson did renovations on the house when he purchased it the 1990s. Although he installed “old Chicago-style” bricks in front of the property, no permit was ever issued, Ramsingh said, adding that he was told an “informal verbal approval” was given at the time by city management at the request of an unnamed former city commissioner who used to live in that area.

Because no permit was ever issued and because the bricks were allowed to remain over the years, the city cannot claim the unsafe condition was created without its knowledge, Ramsingh said. As a result, he recommended, the city commissioners unanimously approved, a settlement of $34,000 be paid to Turner to avoid a potentially more costly lawsuit.

The bricks have since been ripped out at the city’s expense and replaced by a concrete sidewalk.

The second case involved former city employee John Newcomer. He worked at the Rockland Key Transfer Station until being laid off in January when Waste Management, the city’s trash collection company, eliminated six positions at the facility when it took over management of the transfer station as part of its new contract with the city. Newcomer worked at the transfer station since 2006 and had worked as a city mechanic for three years prior to that.

Newcomer filed a total disability worker’s compensation claim with the city stating he suffered two work-related injuries; a back injury in 2008 and a knee injury in 2013. Ramsingh, who handled the Newcomer case as well as Turner’s, recommended settling the claim out of court. Insurance will cover $200,000 of the $249,999 settlement.

The two settlements come about a month after city commissioners voted to pay $130,000 to a former city maintenance employee, Craig Allen, to settle a lawsuit over a work-related injury suffered in 2012.

In a related issue, Key West just renewed its workers compensation insurance policy with Employers Mutual, Inc. According to the insurer, the average workers’ compensation claim fell 59 percent between 2005 and 2013. The average claim per year from 2005 to 2008 was $1.63 million. From 2009 to 2013, the average annual claim fell to $670,000.

Also, according to Employers Mutual, Inc., the average number of workers’ claims filed against the city fell over the same time period. From 2005-2008, the number of claims was 113. From 2009 to 2013, claims totaled 75, a one-third reduction.

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